


We got the love

by abbyli



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Background Shireen/Theon, Bisexual Sansa Stark, F/M, Fightfighters Jon and Renly, Friendship, M/M, Neighbors AU, Roommates, Slow Burn, Sometimes you have two soulmates, Soulmates live across the hall, Will and Grace AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-01-09 02:11:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12266781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbyli/pseuds/abbyli
Summary: Sansa Stark moves in with her best friend Loras after her divorce becomes final. She's done with love and ready to be with her friend and heal.That is, until the handsome firefighter named Jon and his dog move in across the hall.





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gemin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemin/gifts).



> a/n: I am having the BEST time with this AU. This will be told in a series of episodes like a television show and will include other couples but the main focus will be Loras and Sansa’s friendship and the Jonsa/RenlyLoras relationships. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it.

.

.

 

“Ouch! Dammit!”

“You okay?”

Sansa sucked on her bleeding thumb, nodding at Loras. “Just nifty.”

Her best friend smirks and pulls on her hand, examining her injured thumb. “Ooh you might need a transfusion.”

Sansa yanks her hand away, giving his arm a playful slap. “Thanks a lot for the sympathy! Now tell me what I am doing wrong!” she adds with a wail.

Loras chuckles, pulling the pruning shears out of fingers. “Maybe let’s take away sharp objects from you first.”

“Stupid it was the thorn, not the scissors!”

_“Sure.”_

Sansa rolls her eyes, watching as Loras’ talented fingers work over the blooming rose and within minutes, the gorgeous bud already looks happier. “How _do_ you do that? Is it some magical power that your gran passed down to you and Marg before she died?”

Loras cocks his head to the side with a smile. “Something like that. Now go away! Your bad aura is tainting the flowers!”

She blows a raspberry but does as she’s told, grabbing the folding chair across the floor of the greenhouse. “Did I tell you that my divorce became final this morning?”

Loras puts the shears down on the table, turning to look at her. The concern on his face practically breaks her heart, even now despite everything that he is going through himself. “Are you okay?”

Sansa shakes her head. “No. _But_ …I will be.”

“You know that you have two ears here anytime you wanna talk,” Loras adds, turning back to the rose bush.

“I know. And thank you.” Sansa sighs, watching the muscles in Loras’s back moving with his arms as he works.  

She’s jealous of his talents with flowers. While she herself will walk by a patch of daisies and they’ll shrivel up and die after she’s passed. Margaery doesn’t even let her into the greenhouse when she’s in there working.

“And what about you?” Sansa asks. Loras throws her a glance over his shoulder. “How are your fourth graders?”

Loras snorts. “A pain in the ass. But what else can you expect from a bunch of ten year olds?”

Sansa laughs softly. “I remember what it was like to be ten. I was discovering make up and my mother was letting me play with her ‘grown up clothes’ as she called it. All these heavy dresses and high heels. Wound up breaking my ankle and being stuck in a wheelchair for a month after that.”

“Why am I not surprised by that?” Loras tells her with a quirked brow.

Sansa scowls. “My sister tripped me!”

_“Sure.”_

“Aw _pfft_.”

Loras puts down the sheers and strips off his gloves, tossing them cleanly into a bin on the other side of the room. “Let’s see…when I was ten years old, I was always bugging my gran to let me help her out here. And then my mom…fuck I was so gay even then.”

Sansa rolls her eyes. “Sometimes I wonder how I didn’t figure it out sooner.”

“Honey, I didn’t even figure it out,” Loras tells her gently.

She leans back in her seat, crossing her legs. “I just realized something. I need to move out of my apartment.”

“You do? I thought Harry moved out.”

“He did. I just…I don’t want to live there anymore. It was the home that we shared and now it’s just…”

“Weird?” Loras offers and Sansa nods.

“Yeah.”

“You know –“ Loras folds his arms in front of his chest. “I have a spare bedroom.”

“Yeah that’s all filled with flower pots and sacks of dirt – _oh.”_

“Ding ding ding.” He walks over and taps her on top of the head with the tip of a finger. She pushes his hand away. “I can get it cleaned out and you can bring your crap over. Besides – I need someone to split the rent with me.”

“Are you sure?” Sansa asks imploringly. “I mean, are you absolutely _sure?_ I am not the easiest person to live with.”

He groans. “I lived with a guy that left his facial hair all over the bathroom sink and put empty milk cartons back in the fridge. I lived with him for three years. I think I can handle you for a few months until you get your shit together.”

Sansa tilts her head. “I don’t know, Loras. I’ve been known to do that too. Put orange juice bottles back in the fridge and they have just a sliver of juice left in them. Wet towels on the bed?”

“As long as it’s your bed because _ew_.”

“Really?” She can’t help but laugh.

He laughs too, a sweet sound that she adores. They need to laugh more, especially now.

She sticks out her hand. “Okay. Deal.”

He takes it, giving the digits a firm shake. “Deal.”

And so it begins.

-;

“Sansa do you really need all of your crap?”

She growls under her breath. Theon had been whining since she had dragged him out this morning to help collapse her bed and get it onto the truck. She had had to bribe him with coffee and donuts to get him to agree. Theon had turned out to be the only one to show up.

“Tell me again why Robb or Arya are not here?”

“Because Robb apparently promised he’d go hiking with Ygritte at the ass crack of dawn and ‘forgot’ to tell me. And I don’t know where Arya is.”

Theon grumbles again, moving the small screwdriver from one hand to the other. “There! I got it – watch your fingers!”

Sansa manages to pull her hand out of the way before the frame of the bed can come crashing down upon it. “Finally. Thank you Theon.”

“Come on, let’s get your lump of love mattress onto the service elevator and onto the truck. We’ll come back for the frame.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

They do just that, and Sansa is clampering into the cab of her friend’s truck when a familiar black Jeep pulls up. “Hey Sansa!”

“Hey Shireen!” She smirks at the look on Theon’s face when the pretty blond eases her jeep up next to the driver’s window. “Try to keep your cool there, dude.”

“Cool?” Theon asks, his voice coming out high and squeaky. “What cool? Huh?”

She smacks his arm and his voice drops just as Shireen brakes. “What are you doing here?”

“Loras texted me, said since he was stuck babysitting his students and asked me if I could come over and lend a hand. My uncle is moving too, actually I think into an apartment in your new building so I’ve been in the packing mode.”

“That is amazing, thank you!” Sansa yanks her house key from her pocket and tosses it past Theon’s face. He shrieks like a girl and leans his head back to avoid losing his nose and Shireen manages to snatch the key in one hand. “I have a few boxes up there, if you could get them and –“

“Already done. See you guys soon!” The Jeep engine roars and she’s gone. Sansa watches as Theon’s stomach muscles relax and he breathes out a deep cleansing gasp of air.

“Oh my _god_ just ask her out already!”

Theon scowls and she laughs.

-;

“Hey Snow!”

Jon jumps violently, looking around to see his Captain walking towards him. “Care to tell me why Sam found you sleeping in one of the engines this morning?”

“Uh…”

Ghost yips softly at his hip. Jon blushes, wondering if he’s about to get fired. His landlord had booted him right out of his apartment the day before yesterday when he had discovered Ghost there. The building he lived in had a strict no pets rule but when he had learned that the white husky he had rescued from a fire two weeks back was due to be put down at the animal shelter, he wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Because if you were drinking, I cannot condone that –“

“No! No, Cap, I wasn’t drinking. I was…” He looks down at the dog, sighing. “I’m kind of…homeless.”

“Homeless?” Renly repeats.

Jon nods. “My landlord kicked me out of my apartment when he found Ghost there and because it was so sudden, I haven’t had much of a choice of where to go.”

Renly raises a brow but doesn’t speak. Jon fidgets in his seat, awkwardly praying that the alarms will go off right at that moment so he can escape.

Of course that does not happen.

And then, what does happen kind of blows him away.

Renly whistles at Ghost, who comes to him without hesitation. _Anything for ear pats_ , Jon thinks as he watches the dog lean into the older man’s side, eyes closing as Renly’s fingers stroke over the top of his head.

“I’m changing apartments. The one I got right now is too far away and I’m pretty much paying rent for an empty house. This new place my niece and nephew are helping me move into is just downtown and it allows dogs. _And_ it has an extra bedroom.”

Jon raises a brow. “Sir…are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Split half the rent and groceries every other week?”

Okay so now he’s gaping like a fish. “Fuck – I mean _heck_ yeah.”

Renly chuckles and extends his hand. Jon takes it and they shake. “Do you have anything you need to still get from your old place?”

Jon shakes his head. “Like you, I was paying for an empty place. My clothes are in my car.”

“All right, we’ll get you some secondhand furniture tomorrow.”

And then he’s gone. Jon sits there for a minute, staring at Ghost as he tries to process what just happened. Ghost barks again, signifying his need for some dinner and Jon clampers to his feet. “Yeah let’s go eat boy.”

-;

Sansa manages to save her favorite vase from being broken by Theon when Shireen trots by in her haste for the bathroom and leaves a whiff of lilac perfume in her midst, finally kicking him out once her bed is put back together. “I think I got the rest. I need to save my chach-kis.”

Theon’s eyes immediately flicker to her breasts and back up to her eyes. “Sorry.”

She pushes on his arms and directs him to the door of the bedroom. “No you’re not. But thank you for all of this.”

“You still owe me donuts!”

“I’ll give you donuts!” she bellows back with a chuckle as she pushes him out.

When Shireen suddenly appears from the bathroom, flashing Theon the biggest of smiles, he flees like he had been burned.

“Did I say something wrong?” the younger Baratheon asks.

Sansa shakes her head. “Nothing at all. He’s just…” Should she do it? Theon would never speak to her again. “…in a hurry.”

Shireen parts not long after Theon, leaving Sansa alone in a room with a naked bedframe and full of boxes. She’s still unpacking when Loras gets home at six, carrying a bag of what she really hopes is chicken wings.

“You hungry?”

Sansa nods, making grabby hands towards the bag. “Garlic and parmesan?”

Loras shakes his head. “You never brush your teeth after you eat them!”

“And neither do you after – never mind.”

“Ha-ha very funny.”

They chat about their days while eating a bit of the dinner. Loras regales her with a tale of one of his students managing to leave a ‘kick me’ sign on his desk chair without him noticing for almost an hour and leaves her almost choking on her food from laughing so hard.

“Little demons don’t want to pay attention while I talk about European history so I will torture them tomorrow with extra math.”

“Oh don’t do that to them!” Sansa protests. “How about more history and less math? Or is that a way to get them to appreciate the history more?”

“Bingo.” Loras sighs, leaning back and scrubbing his hands over his face. “I should have just became a botanist.”

“You’re only thirty one. Never too late to do that,” Sansa offers. “But you’d have to grow more than flowers as a botanist. Eggplant and green beans and –“

“Oh god _no._ You’ve got the plant curse so now that you’re living here I’d never be able to grow anything.”

Sansa groans. “When are you going to let that go?”

Loras flashes her a cheeky grin. “Never.”

She watches as he stands up, gathering up the empty Styrofoam container and dumping it into the trash. “I’m going to finish unpacking and see if I can find my bedsheets so I can crash.”

“Need any help?”

Sansa shakes her head. “You’ve got papers to grade, don’t you?”

“Don’t remind me.”

She heads back to her room and glares beadily at the last four boxes sitting by the closet. True to his word Loras had cleared out the rest of his gardening equipment which was now down at the Highgarden greenhouse.

“I will defeat you assholes,” she says to the boxes, walking over to tear the lid off of the first one. A few doodads and clothes look back up at her. She goes to toss that box aside, stopping when something bright and shiny catches her eye.

Reaching inside, she pulls out a small framed photograph. It’s of her and Loras along with Harry and Jeremy. The Sansa in the picture is adorned in a blue graduation gown, the tassle hanging off her cap trying it’s best to smack Harry in the face.

Her eyes trace the faces of Loras and Jeremy. They look so happy. So in love and hopeful for what was too come.

Sighing, she sets the photograph face down on the small vanity and turns back her work.

-;

She stumbles out to the kitchen at seven that following morning after waking up face first on her still bare mattress, a blanket thrown over top of her. Loras is scrambling eggs at the stove and his tired eyes light up when he sees her.

“It seems we have new neighbors.”

“Harghnrff?”

Loras smirks, pushing his mug of coffee across the counter to her. She grabs at it greedily. “ _New neighbors,_ sleepy. And they’re hot.”

“Both guys?” Sansa asks once the caffeine hits her system.

“Yeah.”

“Two guys in an apartment together?”

“And a dog.”

“A dog?”

“Big dog. Big and scary looking. White husky.”

Sansa blinks the sleep out of her eyes, resting her head on her fist. “Huskies are _not_ scary looking. What about Lady?”

“Grey Wind tried to eat my face the last time I was over at your family’s for Christmas.”

“He was kissing you!”

“Then why was he showing teeth?” Loras shoots back.

“He was _smiling!”_ She retorts. She takes another slug from her coffee, letting out a yawn of morning breath. Loras waves his hand, wrinkling his nose. “Go brush your teeth, your breath smells like a monkey died in there.”

She exhales again, causing Loras to flinch and she laughs, picking up her coffee. “I have to be at work at nine. Will I see you later at Highgarden?”

He smiles, nodding. “Always.”

She picks up her mug and heads back to her room to see if she can track down some clean clothes.

Loras is gone when she comes back out forty five minutes later, a note stuck to the fridge telling her where he had left some leftovers for her lunch. She grabs them and picks up her keys from the hook on the door before heading out.

As she closes the apartment door behind her, there’s someone walking out the door across the hall. He’s a little bit shorter than her, heavy dark hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Sansa’s not paying too much attention as she digs around in her purse and she runs smack into a wall of solid muscle and the faint hint of burning ash.

“Oh shit! Sorry.”

She looks up into the eyes of who _has_ to be the new neighbor. Very _cute_ new neighbor.

Most likely very _gay_ new neighbor, she thinks.

“That’s okay. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Sansa manages to slap a smile on her face, sticking out her hand. “I’m Sansa. I just moved in here.”

He takes her hand almost like he’s afraid she’s going to give him cooties. “Jon. So did I.” He awkwardly gestures to the door he had just walked out of and it’s so timid that Sansa could almost _aww._ But it’s best she does not do that for fear of not being able to look hot new neighbor in the eye ever again.

“Uh – it’s nice to meet you Jon. I will see you later?”

He almost bolts then and Sansa watches him go, her face flushing. What is wrong with her?

Sighing, she stuffs her keys into her other hand and heads to the elevators.

-;

**And so it begins. I am so excited about this story. We’re going to see several other couples, some canon some that I just enjoy like Theon and Shireen. We’re going to tackle serious subjects but the main gist of this is going to be love, fluff, and friendship.**


	2. Another Meet Cute (Well Kind of? Not Really? Maybe?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n: Apologies for the wait my loves. A lot going on in real life.

.

“You’re late.”

“Good morning to you, Margaery.”

“Good morning. You’re late.”

Sansa rolls her eyes, shedding her purse from her shoulder and letting it fall to the floor beside her desk. “ _Sorry.”_

Her friend ignores her, getting up from the desk to grab her gloves that she had abandoned by the door leading to the greenhouse. “You know the rules. If you need anything, just knock on the door. Do _not_ come inside.”

“Okay, okay.”

While Loras was more lenient with her ‘curse’ as they called it, Margaery truly did not let _ever_ her into the greenhouse.

Sansa settles down behind her desk and as soon as she sits, the phone rings. She busies herself for the next three hours of orders coming in through the phone and on the website, settling them all into the computer for Margaery and Loras to see. They had a big wedding that was coming up in three days and there were around five thousand calla lilies that were due to be here sometime tomorrow. She was not looking forward to swimming in flowers.

People come in and out after the twelve o’clock hour. A boy around thirteen buys a single rose for a dollar while blushing furiously and a woman buys a bouquet of red irises. Sansa’s stuffing a sandwich in her face when the bell above the door jingles and she turns around to see the hot new neighbor man standing there.

“Oh! Hi!” And she promptly chokes on the bite of food in her mouth.

Hot neighbor guy – what was his name? springs into action as soon as he sees her gasping for air. She feels her throat tear as his arms wrap around her midsection from behind and suddenly the bite of food goes flying and she’s sucking in cool afternoon air through her nose.

“Are you all right, Sansa?” _Jon._ That was his name.

She nods, coughing. Water streams from her eyes and down her face that she wipes away with the back of her hand.

“What’s going on out here?” Margaery’s charging through the greenhouse door, a look of concern on her face. “Sansa?”

She coughs again and Jon talks for her. “She was choking on her sandwich and well –“ he waves a helpless hand in her direction.

Margaery’s eyes widen in alarm, turning back to her. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah _._ ” She looks to Jon. “Thank you, Jon.”

He shrugs. “I was the one that caused you to choke in the first place,” he says guiltily.

Margaery raises a manicured brow, her eyes narrowing into slits at Jon. “You caused her to choke?”

Sansa quickly shakes her head. “It was nothing. I was eating and he came in and startled me. Just an accident.”

“We should get you to the hospital, make sure you’re okay,” Jon says.

Sansa waves the words away. “No, that’s not necessary. I’m fine.”

“Let me get you some water,” Margaery walks over to the small fridge in the corner of the office. Jon guides Sansa to her desk chair and it’s then she notices her knees are knocking together.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

She nods, lightly patting Jon’s hand that still sits on her shoulder. “I’m good. Thank you for saving me.”

Margaery sniffs but doesn’t say anything as she passes Sansa the bottle of water. “If you’re okay, Sansa, I’m going to go back to work.” Without waiting for an answer, she disappears back through the greenhouse door and lets it fall shut behind her with a loud clang.

Sansa turns back to Jon, who is still watching her anxiously. “Can I help you?” At the obvious confusion, she hastens to clarify. “You came in here for a reason. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Oh!” Jon reddens for a second and Sansa has to hold back another need to _aww_ because goodness is he cute and awkward. “I wanted to get some…flowers.”

Sansa takes another sip of her water, setting the bottle down on the desk and getting to her feet. “What kind of flowers were you looking for?”

Jon follows her over to the display fridge where there are several bouquets inside. “Would you think it weird if I was getting flowers for a man?”

“Oh? Boyfriend?” Sansa asks.

Jon shakes his head. “No my roommate actually. He’s gay, I’m not and – well he likes flowers and he let me move in with him after my landlord kicked me out for having a dog.“

“Really? That white dog my roommate saw this morning?”

Jon nods. “His name’s Ghost. I’m a firefighter and I got him out of a house that was going down a couple weeks ago. He was going to be put down at the animal shelter and I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Jon you are scoring points in heaven right now,” Sansa jokes. “How about these?” She points to a freshly cut bouquet of bluebells and white gladiolas. “They’re ten dollars.”

“Let him have them on the house!” Margaery suddenly bellows from the back room.

Jon shakes his head. “No, I couldn’t –“

“Hey, you saved me from choking to death,” Sansa says. “You get a freebee.”

Jon rolls his eyes but relents. “Thank you.” His eyes suddenly brighten and he points to a vase of red daisies. “How much are those?”

“With the vase, fifteen. Without, five.”

“I’ll take those and I _will_ pay for them.”

Sansa rings out the order and pulls cash out of her wallet for the bluebells, adding that into the register. “I’ll see you around, Jon?”

“Obviously since we’re neighbors,” he tells her with a soft smile. Tucking the wrapped flowers under his arm, he waves goodbye to her and leaves the shop.

Sansa waits until he is completely out of sight before breaking into her happy dance.

-;

She’s just climbing into the shower when the doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it!” Loras bellows from the other room. Loras had picked her up at Highgarden and was bearing a small supreme pizza that they had mostly eaten by the time the elevator doors opened to their apartment.  

The hot water is beating down on her back when Loras knocks on the door of the bathroom. “Come in!”

Loras sticks his curly haired head around the edge of the whitewashed door. “You got a delivery.”

Sansa peeks around the curtain, water dripping from her hair and onto the rug beside the shower stall. “Oh?”

“Flowers from Highgarden actually.”

Oh? Who would send her flowers? Sansa cocks her head to the side in puzzlement. “What kind of flowers are they?”

“Red daisies,” Loras says before shutting the door.

Oh. _Oh._

Sansa quickly rises off the rest of the soap and climbs out, pulling on sweats and one of Loras’ teeshirts she had stolen from the laundry. Loras is putting the last couple of slices of pizza in the fridge when she walks out to the kitchen, scrubbing a towel over her dripping hair.

The red daisies sit in a vase on the counter, the paper she had wrapped around them early this afternoon discarded into the trash. Loras flashes her a smile as he shuts the fridge door. “So you wanna tell me who is sending you flowers?” She flushes as red as the daisies and her friend crows with laughter. “You know who it is, San, so don’t try to hide it.”

Sansa’s lips spread into a smile and she points to the door. “Hot neighbor. I ran into him this morning when I was heading out for work.”

“Which one?” Loras asks. “Tall dark and dreamy or short dark and dreamy?”

She snickers, wrapping the damp towel around her shoulders. “Short.”

Loras raises a golden brow. “Really? So he’s not -?” He waggles a finger suggestively and Sansa shakes her head.

“Nope. He came in there to buy flowers as a thank you for his roommate, a bouquet of bluebells and those daisies I guess as an apology for making me choke on my sandwich.” She flinches when she sees Loras’s eyes widen in alarm. “No, no I’m fine! It was an accident.”

“An accident?” Loras repeats. “What happened?”

“I was on my break, Marg had locked me out of the greenhouse so I was eating my food. Jon came in and startled me and I kind of –“ She dropped her head in faux shame. “- almost choked to death on a bite of sandwich. He did the heimlich on me.”

Sansa doesn’t have time to say anything else when Loras walks around the length of the counter and pulls her into his arms. She lets out a startled _oof_ when her face collides with his chest and she gets a noseful of what smells like acrylic paints and...bananas? What do those students do to him?

“Jesus,” he mutters into her hair and she smiles, her heart swelling with love for this dear man.

Gently pulling away, she gives him that smile. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.” She turns to head to the couch. “Tell me about your day.”

She listens to her friend chatter about his students and about what he dubs his ‘idiotic co-workers’ for the next twenty minutes, occasionally chiming in with questions. As her friend moves around the kitchen preparing coffee, she watches his frame and how he moves and works. Since Jeremy, Loras had walked with an almost hunch, the grief weighing on him so heavily like he could not bear to stand up straight. Time had passed and the grief had eased but she knew it would always be there in her friend’s soul.

She hoped he would find something to bring him peace once again.

-;

_“Are you sure you’re all right?”_

Sansa sighed heavily, shifting her phone to her other ear as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “For the love of god why does everyone keep asking me that?”

Her sister cackles. “ _Because you’re Sansa! When you were a teenager whenever you broke a nail you acted like the world was coming to an end.”_

She scowls into the phone. “Well I am not like that anymore.”

“ _Obviously_.”

Sansa pounces on the silence that follows. “How are things with you and Gendry?” She can hear her sister sputtering, fighting back a laugh. “Have the two of you made a _love_ connection?”

“ _Oh shut up. And things are fine, thanks for asking.”_

“I wonder if our lives will ever have a normal again.” The words fall over Sansa’s lips faster than she can control them and Arya makes a small noise on the other end of the line. “Sorry, didn’t mean to go deep there.”

_“No, that’s fine. Uh...I really don’t know, San.”_

Sansa leans back on her bed, her knotted hair falling into her eyes. “Our lives had a normal and then all of the sudden they didn’t. Harry left me, you moved away, then uh, _Jeremy_ and then –“ 

“ _Hey,”_ Arya’s voice is gentle. More gentle than Sansa is used to coming from her loudmouthed sister. _“You’re living with your best friend and the both of you are starting over. You will find your normal again.”_

“And you?”

 _“Me? Since when has Arya Stark ever been_ normal?”

She laughs then and says goodbye, tossing her phone back onto her nightstand and settling down to sleep.

-;

The dog’s barking awakes Loras much earlier than he wanted.

Rolling onto his side he glances at the clock. Five in the freaking am. He won’t be able to get back to sleep now, he never does on nights like these.

Listening hard for a moment he finds that he cannot hear anything from Sansa’s room. Typical. Growing up with five dogs in her house, she was used to this.

Loras pushes the blankets off of his legs and rises slowly, shuffling into the kitchen to prepare some coffee. None of the food looks interesting to him so once the coffee is done, he settles on the sofa and flips the television on. Maybe a good boring infomercial will put him back to sleep.

The dog still barks.

Loras gets up to peek out the peephole and that’s when he sees the door across the hall open and out comes the giant white husky he had seen the other day followed by – what did Sansa say his name was? – _Renly._

“Okay, okay Ghost, we’re going.”

The dog pulls on his leash, letting out a small yip. Renly shuts the apartment door behind them, hitching his keys into his pocket. Ghost yanks on his leash again, nearly pulling Renly right off his feet.

“You must have to pee bad,” the older man says with a chuckle.

Loras watches them until they get on the elevator and the doors close, swallowing them up. When he turns around he lets out a yelp, nearly throwing his now empty mug in the air when he sees Sansa standing just six inches away with a knowing smirk on her face.

“What are you doing?”

He blinks, searching for an excuse. “Uh, I thought I heard a noise. Wanted to make sure it wasn’t burglars.”

Sansa snorts loudly. “Burglars, huh? Are you sure it wouldn’t have anything to do with hot neighbor walking his dog at five in the morning?”

“No, not at all,” Loras says innocently. “Now if you will excuse me, I have to get ready for work.” He lightly pushes past her to make for the bedroom and Sansa’s voice calls him back.

“Uh Loras? It’s Saturday.”

“Dammit, I told the superintendent they should have school on the weekends!” he bolts, slamming the door on Sansa’s loud raucous laughter.

-;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heehee and so it begins. I love writing Sansa busting Loras’s ass. Oooh what happened with this mysterious Jeremy by the way? Leave reviews if you want more!


	3. Breakfast Time

 

.

.

The heat dies on a Saturday morning.

Sansa grabs at least ten blankets and wraps herself in them, curling up back on her bed in an attempt to go back to sleep. She hadn’t lived in California for over three years but she still was not used to these early New York winters despite having been born here.

A loud rattling noise comes from the kitchen. Sansa sticks her head up out of her cocoon and listens hard but doesn’t hear anything else. She’s just settling back down into the blankets when her door opens and Loras charges in.

“Sansa get up – wait are you here?”

She manages to wrench a hand free and waves it. Loras grabs it and pulls her right from her bed. “What are you doing? It’s freezing!”

Loras rapidly unwraps her like a burrito, and frogmarches her from the bedroom. “Come on, I got a surprise for you.”

His hands snap out and stop her from tripping over the trailing end of her blanket, positioning her over the small radiator vent in the floor. At first her toes are so cold she doesn’t feel anything and then suddenly she is enveloped in warmth. She lets out the most sinful moan and sinks down on top of the vent, the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. “Oh good lord. It’s happening. Heat. I’m in heat.”

Loras snickers and gently nudges her to the right. “Don’t hog it all, I need to thaw my feet.”

“How did you do it?”

“I bribed the super with a free month worth of flowers for his wife.”

She flashes him a thumbs up. “I would have been willing to sleep with him, as long as it was on top of this vent.”

Loras chuckles, sinking down beside her on the floor. “The cold wave isn’t supposed to let up until Thursday. Camp outs on the vent?”

She pats his leg, smiling. “Sounds good. I’ll bring the marshmallows.” They lay there, half-cuddling for almost another hour. Sansa’s just about ready to fall back asleep, her head against Loras’s shoulder when there’s a knock on the door. “Ugh, really?”

“You stay here, I got it.” Loras gets to his feet, shaking out a cramp in his leg. When the door opens it reveals handsome neighbor Jon. “Sansa, it’s for you.”

She rears up so quickly she nearly knocks her head into the side of the coffee table. “Jon!”

Jon winces. “Am I bad luck or are you just clumsy?”

“She’s clumsy,” Loras says, easily side stepping the pillow Sansa throws at him.

She clampers to her feet, keeping the blanket wrapped around her shoulders as she waves Jon in. He closes the door behind him, immediately shivering when the chill of the apartment hits his bare arms. “Jesus, why is it so cold in here?”

“Wait, come here.” Sansa grabs onto his sleeve and pulls him to the vent. “Better?”

“Much.”

Loras snorts.

Jon laughs softly, turning back to Sansa. “Listen, Sansa, I know this is going to sound a little...impertinent of me but can I buy you breakfast?”

“Oh!” That’s not what she was expecting when he walked in here. “Really? You’re asking me out while I look like a blanket taco?”  

“She’s looked worse,” Loras says from the kitchen, chuckling when Sansa shows her middle finger.

“Jon, I’d love too.”

He beams at her, crinkling his soft grey eyes and Sansa’s stomach does a flip. She mentally gives herself a slap upside the head. She cannot do this right now. The ink on her divorce papers is not even dry yet, she _cannot_ fall head over heels for the first guy that smiled at her.

Loras is staring at her after Jon leaves, a familiar judgy look pinching his face up. “What?”

“Are you sure you wanna start seeing someone so soon?”

Sansa scoffs. “It’s just breakfast.”

“Make sure you let him know that. I may be gay but I can read when men are looking for shit and –“

“Loras!” Her best friend falls quiet. “I’m a big girl. Believe me, I’ve been burned enough as it is.” Loras sighs but doesn’t push. Sansa pads over and wraps her arms around his waist, using her shoulder to bump his own arms up and around her. “Thank you though?”

“Why is that a question?” Loras asks, but he is smiling softly. He gives her a quick kiss on the forehead and pulls away. “Go get ready.”

Sansa gathers up the blankets that had fallen to the floor, taking one last stand on the heating vent before heading back to her room.

She dresses slowly in warm clothes, not sure what Jon has in mind. He shows up as Sansa searching for her boots, a yapping Ghost in tow. “I hope this is okay?”

“Oh _more_ than okay.” Sansa grins happily at the sight of the panting dog. “I have an old grey girl back home.”

About thirty minutes later they are at a dog friendly café, steaming hot coffees in front of them. Ghost lays on the floor beside their table, happily snorfing down a small cup of whipped cream the waitress had bought. “He’s so handsome, how long have you had him again?”

“About a month. It was hard getting him back from the pound, the pricks over there were ardent at putting him down.”

Sansa shivers in disgust. “My sister Arya helps with a no kill rescue back home, she and her boyfriend are always trying their best not to adopt every animal in there.”

“Are they big dog lovers?”

Sansa nods. “Actually Gendry’s more of a cat person but Arya’s dog Nymeria adores him so he ‘puts up with it’,” she adds with a small laugh. “And he does whatever Arya tells him to do so there’s that.”

The waitress comes over to take their orders. Sansa asks for a muffin with a side of fruit and Jon asks for two strawberry pancakes.

“What, no blueberry?” Sansa jokes.

Jon shakes his head. “Actually I’m allergic to blueberries.”

“Really? How allergic?”

“Let’s just say –“ he slides his hand into his pocket and pulls out a plastic epi pen. “Had a few close calls. I’m one of the rare ones to have a ‘true’ allergy to these.”

Sansa’s eyes widen as she takes in the small item gripped in Jon’s hand. “Good heavens.”

Jon snorts. “Nothing I can’t handle though.”

Their food comes surprisingly quickly along with an extra piece of toast for Ghost. “I hope that’s okay?” The waitress asks, smiling fondly at the panting dog.

“More than okay, thank you.”

Sansa digs into her muffin, which is large and gooey. She tears it open and it spills pieces of chocolate and nuts out onto the plate. “Sorry I’m a bit of a sloppy eater. Loras always tells me I need a doggy bowl.”

Jon laughs. “No problem.” He tears the toast up into small pieces to feed to Ghost. “How long have you been living with Loras?”

“Oh! Going on three weeks now. But we’ve been in each other’s lives a lot longer. Since college actually.”

“Oh? Anything...?” he waggles a breadcrumb covered finger.

Sansa shakes her head. “Nope. He’s, uh, he’s gay. We did date in college but after he came out we remained really good friends.”

Jon smiles. “That’s really nice.” She thinks he means it too, she doesn’t see a hint of disbelief or wariness in his eyes.

“Kind of ironic, huh?”

“You can say that again.” The last bite of toast disappears into Ghost’s mouth and the dog yawns happily, laying back down to snooze. “What do you do besides work at the flower shop?”

“That’s basically it. I have a Bachelor’s in education but I didn’t finish my Masters. I uh, got married and my husband took up all of my time.”

Jon raises a brow. “Sounds like my sister Rhae.”

“You have a sister?”

Jon nods. “Half sister and a half brother. After Rhae’s husband left she went back and now she’s a nurse at New York General.”

“So she’s here in the city?”

“Yep.”

“My brother and his girlfriend are here too.”

“How many siblings do you have?”

“Four,” Sansa admits and Jon lets out a low whistle. “Big family. Especially since Arya and Robb have paired off and their significant others are always dragged along for the holidays.”

The conversation darts this way and that and lasts for over an hour. She talks more about her divorce and finds that it’s easy to actually _speak_ about. She had thought the sting of it would still be there but the pain had lessened in the weeks since saying goodbye to Harry for good and moving out of the apartment they shared. She had her family a phone call away, Loras was right there and they worked through their pain together.

She wondered if Jon would be around too.

-;

“Have you ever thought about finishing your Masters?” Jon asks her on the elevator ride back to their apartments. They had taken Ghost for a long walk through Central Park and Sansa had told him about the special booties for the dog’s feet for cold days like this. Ghost was half leaning on Sansa’s leg, quite ready for a long nap.

“I have,” Sansa admits. “It’s been a few years since school though.”

“Hey,” Jon nudges her arm. “I didn’t start college until I was twenty two. I think you can do it.”

He had told her about being a fire fighter and of course, worry flared. “You saved Ghost from a fire?”

“It was a burning shed some asshole had left him in. We got the prick and I got the dog,” he smirks.

Sansa sighs. “God, I hate schmucks that do that. Real waste of space.”

“You got that right.”

The elevator doors open. “Jon –“

Jon stops, one foot on the elevator and the other off. “Yeah?”

The doors close on him. Sansa laughs, sticking out a hand to stop them from shutting again and clampering off. “I’m, uh, I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”

Jon blinks in surprise. “Sansa, I kind of figured you were not as soon as you told me about your divorce.”

Sansa gapes. “Oh! Then what was all of this for?”

He shrugs. “Being a friend?”

Well, she feels like an idiot. “Okay. Okay. I’m an ass.”

Jon laughs, tugging on her hand. “You’re _not._ I admit...I like you. But this is all up to you, okay?”

“Jesus, where were you five years ago when I got with my ex?”

After Jon takes Ghost into his apartment, Sansa unlocks the door to hers. Loras is seated on the couch, about a hundred papers and books spread out around him. “Did you have fun?” he asks, not looking up from his work.

Sansa sighs happily. “Lots.” She raises a brow, realizing Loras is not paying any attention to her. “He asked me to marry him.”

“That’s nice, Sansa.” Loras scribbles away on a thick black book. Must be his grade book. “Wait, what?”

Sansa laughs, waving a hand as she walks to her bedroom.

When she gets there, she plucks her laptop off of her desk after kicking off her boots, settling down on the edge of her still messy bed with it balanced on her knees.

When the Google window pops up, her fingers hover over the keys for a solid sixty seconds.

Jon’s right. And Loras has been nagging her about this for the last six months.

It’s time to start again.

With a sigh, she types _NYU Application process_ into the search bar.

-;

“Hey peaches, what are you doing?”

Loras is sitting beside the heating vent now, a pillow under his ass as he balances his grade book in his lap. Sansa carries her laptop over and sits down beside him, resting her sock feet across his legs. “I need you to look at something for me.”

Loras glances at the screen and lightly pushes his grade book away. “You sure you’re ready?”

Sansa nods without hesitation. “Absolutely.”

“What changed your mind? You seemed pretty ardent on not returning to school for at least a while.” When Sansa remains silent Loras cracks a laugh. “Are you serious? Your new squeeze talked you into it?”

Sansa pinches his side, stealing her laptop back. “Just for that, you do not get any marshmallows.”

Loras still laughs, poking her thigh with his foot. “I’m happy for you. Once you graduate get your ass to my school, I need some back up with the little heathens.”

“I will do my best,” Sansa promises, smiling fondly. “Hot chocolate sound good?”

“Sounds great.”

Sansa places her laptop on the back of the couch and gets to her feet, shivering as soon as she steps away from the heating vent. She wasn’t kidding about the camp outs out here in the living room.

-;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet! Apologies for the long wait, real life got crazy as hell. Please leave some reviews!

**Author's Note:**

> Leave Reviews if you want the next chapter!


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